Starter Kit. Idea 231 of 500. Cluster 11
Spice subscriptions for home cooks abroad: a different district each month
The mechanism, from the book
The imitation out-earns the original. Vietnam earns more from cassia than Sri Lanka does from true cinnamon, because the cassia arrives on the shelf as a product and the cinnamon arrives at the port as a bale.
The first step
Pack 20 boxes by hand, each with 4 spices from one district and a recipe card, and offer a 3-month subscription to Sri Lankans abroad through your own network and online groups for Sri Lankans abroad. Charge in advance. The proof is how many subscribers pay for the second box, and which district's box gets the most replies.
- Who pays first
- A home cook abroad who likes learning new food and would pay monthly for spices with a story and a recipe to use them.
- What leaves today
- Spices leave as bulk commodity sales, so the island never builds a direct relationship with the home cook who buys spice every week.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Customs. Ask what paperwork monthly spice parcels need to leave the country.
- Department of Export Agriculture. Ask whether small spice exporters must register before posting abroad.
Check before you spend
Whether the countries you post to accept spice parcels without import permits, and which labels each pouch needs.
Find out these three numbers
- What would a home cook abroad pay for a monthly box?
- What does posting one box cost to your main city?
- How many subscribers stay past the first few months?
A comparison from the book
Sri Lankans abroad. Appendix
"The single most valuable thing a Sri Lankan in Melbourne or Zurich can do"
Sri Lankans abroad are the first order and the first honest review, so start there.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.